TV Review: THE LAST SHIP: Season 3, Episode 13: Don’t Look Back [TNT]

The Last Ship Don’t Look Back Review

The Last Ship: Season 3, Episode 13: Don’t Look Back showed us that even when problems are solved, there would always be a heavy cost. That is what happened to Captain Tom Chandler (Eric Dane) despite trying to protect his fellow Americans from both enemies and one another. Chandler fully proved how much of a leader he is throughout the season finale, but he made a choice that doubted his skills and left him broken.

The third season finale managed to put one chapter to a close as the team finally ended Allison Shaw (Elizabeth Rohm) and the regional leaders’ tyranny on the country. After saving the world from the virus, it made sense for Chandler to end up saving his country’s moral values. During Chandler and Shaw’s final confrontation, the CNO Captain put himself in danger in order to save his people. After kidnapping Chandler’s children, he made a sacrifice to save his children in order to allow Shaw to kill him.

Even though Shaw tried to make her place as the country’s new leader, Tom became selfless when he found out what Shaw went through during the viral outbreak. Shaw revealed that she only became like this because she wants to stop the people who stand in her way. She learned that no one can be trusted after her family was killed by those who took advantage of their authority and wants no one to use her for their benefit.

After Shaw’s revelation on her family’s demise, Tom had every opportunity to kill her. He understood where she was coming from, but his gut was telling him that the country would not benefit from her leadership. After saving his team in Asia and stopping Peng from spreading the virus, Tom should’ve had a hero’s welcome when he came back but he ended up being targeted by Shaw as she tries to gain support from the people. Even when he was facing the fact that Shaw needed to be stopped, he still felt sorry for what happened to her. However, his ego got the better hold of him after experiencing two huge losses due to Shaw’s actions. His choice to end Shaw’s life will be something that he will hold over his head for the rest of his life.

In the end, he made the decision to give up his duties as captain and handed over the Nathan James to his lieutenant Mike Slattery (Adam Baldwin). It was emotional to see him leave behind his post in those final moments. With Chandler giving up his title as CNO, the Nathan James will now face a new challenge of running the ship without their fearless leader.

Not all was bad for some of our crewmembers when Danny (Travis Van Winkle) finally got to hold his newborn son with Kara (Marissa Neitling). It was tears of joy as we see this couple finally getting their happy ending after being separated from each other for nearly the whole season. Now the two can start a family, so it will be interesting to see how they will balance work and family when the show returns.

President Howard Oliver (John Cothran) has a lot to prove as he reclaims his leadership after taking over from Michener. It was a great end to the season when he delivered a powerful speech to the nation saying that he will stop at nothing to bring America back to what it once was.

With the third season coming to a close, a lot of changes took place in what may be an interesting fourth season. It makes us wonder how Tom will go back to society as a common man after relinquishing his CNO duties. The Nathan James and the country will be facing some new challenges when The Last Ship comes back for a new season. The seasonal arc was finally resolved, but it did leave things up in the air as Tom and America faces an uncertain future, so it will be exciting to see what kind of direction the show will be heading to.

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About the author

Mufsin Mahbub

**Fired from FilmBook for Plagiarism**
Mufsin is a freelance writer from New York who has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism at Long Island University. He has written for publications like HollywoodLife, Clubplanet, and Heavy. He is an avid lover for everything related to TV and film. He has gone to dozens of film screenings, press events, and loves to attend New York Comic Con every year. He gives an honest opinion on every TV show or film that people are going to be talking about.